"Meat Cute": An Exploration of our Relationships with Animals

Important Notice

This programme is open to members of the National Library Board, Singapore. Please ensure you have your myLibrary username on hand before proceeding with the registration. If you do not have a myLibrary username, you can create one here: https://account.nlb.gov.sg/

About the Programme

Love them, hate them, tolerate them or worship them; animals make up a good part of our world and our life (baring those on the brink of extinction). This session aims to understand our tenable, tenuous and tense relationship with these furry, feathered or scaly creatures. From our perception of animals, to the language we use to describe them and our fervent need to conserve them (and consume them!), this Librarian's World session wants to make you think a little before your next order of fried chicken or steak.

About the Speaker

Lisa Zuliana describes herself with three words: “eccentric”, “unapologetically feminist” and “curious about the world”. These personality traits are what encouraged her to do a deep dive into our often ideologically constructed relationship with animals. From seeing them as fuel, fashion, and food to representations in popular culture, our perception of animals tends to be two-pronged. Firstly, that we believe we are innately superior to animals and secondly, that somehow our own ideological beliefs (for the human world) should apply to these animals (which is ironic because we do not want to see animals as our equals). From a reading of some controversial children’s books in her field as an Early Literacy librarian, Lisa invites you to walk on the wild side, to confront our anthropocentric biases and ask ourselves “Are we animal lovers? How?”